Warrenton will allow overnight truck stops in certain areas, despite a recommendation from the city’s planning and zoning commission that they be prohibited.

Warrenton’s Board of Aldermen voted Nov. 19 to allow truck stops with overnight parking and services in highway commercial areas and industrial areas.

Neil Fick, Warrenton’s director of planning and development, said truck stops without overnight stay are already allowed in the city. During a discussion of the change, he said allowing overnight services is common and beneficial.

“At most locations, the trucks are allowed to stay overnight, whether they go in to use the showers or use the facilities,” Fick commented. “It allows (those drivers) to be safer if they have a place to go. It opens up opportunities for other businesses as well, that provide overnight stays.”

However, members of the Warrenton Planning and Zoning Commission worried that truck stops are contrary to the long-term vision for the city’s development. 

“If I look at communities we would like to emulate ... those that don’t have truck stops are more appealing than the ones that do,” said planning commission member Scott Costello. “I don’t think our community needs, I don’t think our community benefits from truck stops.”

Costello also said he fears encouraging tractor-trailer traffic will cause significant wear and tear to city streets, pointing to truck stops in Foristell as areas where the surrounding roads are in bad shape.

A majority of planning commission members agreed with Costello, voting 6-2 to recommend prohibiting overnight truck stops.

But when the issue came to the board of aldermen, they rejected the notion that truck stops are bad for Warrenton.

“We have to recognize we are an interstate town. That’s part of interstate commerce. I don’t think we can just turn our eyes and say we don’t want it,” said Ward 2 Alderman Gary Auch. 

He added that allowing overnight truck stops in appropriate locations would bring new tax revenue into the city that would benefit public services.

On the subject of damage to city roads, Auch said an overnight truck stop is most likely to be built near Warrenton’s new Interstate 70 interchange, where the roads are built to handle heavier traffic.

Auch and four other aldermen voted unanimously to ignore the planning commission’s recommendation and allow overnight truck stops in areas zoned for highway commerce, light industry and general industry. Ward 3 Alderman Gary Miller was not present for the vote.

The aldermen’s approval comes with a requirement that overnight truck stops first receive a conditional use permit from the city before going into operation. That gives aldermen a chance to place individualized conditions on proposed businesses.